The American Dream vs. The Gospel of Wealth: The Fight for a Productive Middle-Class EconomyNorton Garfinkle paints a disquieting picture of America today: a nation increasingly divided between economic winners and losers, a nation in which the middle-class American Dream seems more and more elusive. Recent government policies reflect a commitment to a new supply-side winner-take-all Gospel of Wealth. Garfinkle warns that this supply-side economic vision favors the privileged few over the majority of American citizens striving to better their economic condition.Garfinkle employs historical insight and data-based economic analysis to demonstrate compellingly the sharp departure of the supply-side Gospel of Wealth from an American ideal that dates back to Abraham Lincoln—the vision of America as a society in which ordinary, hard-working individuals can get ahead and attain a middle-class living, and in which government plays an active role in expanding opportunities and ensuring against economic exploitation. Supply-side economic policies increase economic disparities and, Garfinkle insists, they fail on technical, factual, moral, and political grounds. He outlines a fresh economic vision, consonant with the great American tradition of ensuring strong economic growth, while preserving the middle-class American Dream. |
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Page 7
... problem that would not go away. As inflation grew, the only alternative seemed to be restrictive policies that would create high unemployment—but preventing unemployment was the central goal of demand-side economics.By the s,the ...
... problem that would not go away. As inflation grew, the only alternative seemed to be restrictive policies that would create high unemployment—but preventing unemployment was the central goal of demand-side economics.By the s,the ...
Page 8
... problem was that the government was pumping too much demand into the economy via its deficits, while its high taxes were inhibiting supply, by killing off economic “incentives” to produce. Taxes were too high to encourage investors to ...
... problem was that the government was pumping too much demand into the economy via its deficits, while its high taxes were inhibiting supply, by killing off economic “incentives” to produce. Taxes were too high to encourage investors to ...
Page 16
... problem. The Gospel ofWealth reigned supreme in both the Democratic and Republican administrations of the late nineteenth century. It resurfaced in the s as the dominant ideology of the Republican Party and was embraced with ...
... problem. The Gospel ofWealth reigned supreme in both the Democratic and Republican administrations of the late nineteenth century. It resurfaced in the s as the dominant ideology of the Republican Party and was embraced with ...
Page 21
... problems.Economic policy can also fail on moral grounds, by undermining the sense of fairness on which our society depends. Such failures can lead to political instability by undermining the middle-class belief in the legitimacy of ...
... problems.Economic policy can also fail on moral grounds, by undermining the sense of fairness on which our society depends. Such failures can lead to political instability by undermining the middle-class belief in the legitimacy of ...
Page 24
... problems of ignorance and apathy. Afterward, he went to the town tavern and asked one of the men sitting at the bar what he thought of the speech. The man turned to him and said, “I don't know, and I don't care.” In one way, this ...
... problems of ignorance and apathy. Afterward, he went to the town tavern and asked one of the men sitting at the bar what he thought of the speech. The man turned to him and said, “I don't know, and I don't care.” In one way, this ...
Contents
1 | |
12 | |
27 | |
47 | |
4 The Age of Reform | 69 |
5 The Business of America Is Business | 88 |
6 The Renewal of the American Dream | 107 |
7 The New Gospel of Wealth | 144 |
SupplySide vs DemandSide Economics | 163 |
9 The Way Forward | 189 |
GDP Consumption Investment Employment Unemployment and Marginal Tax Rates 19512004 | 201 |
Notes | 205 |
Index | 221 |
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Common terms and phrases
administration American Dream argued average bank BEST Bureau Bush business investment called citizens claim consumer consumption created Deal decades deficit demand demand-side Democratic economic growth economic policy economists effect expand federal government first fiscal Gospel of Wealth growing hands HIGHEST historical House important improvements income tax rate increase increasingly individual industrial inflation interest investment issues Kennedy kind labor Lincoln major marginal income tax ment MIDDLE middle-class millions monetary nearly nomic opportunity ordinary percent political President problem Product progress prosperity Reagan reducing reform Republican result risk role Roosevelt Security social society spending strong substantial supply supply-side tax cuts tion top marginal income unemployment Union United vision workers WORST York